do with life.10

You Are.10.What You Do with Your Life.docx of 21

You Are: #10 “What You Do With Your Life” – Luke 12:16-21

Dr. Matt Cassidy – 4/17/2011 Good morning, everyone.

When Melinda and I were dating, and we had been dated for about 15 months or so, and it had

turned a corner and looked like we might even be getting married, a very interesting thing happened one

afternoon. She was sitting on this couch, kind of hanging her head, and talking like she normally did. For

some reason -- maybe I hadn’t slept much -- I had grown impatient with her and her demeanor. Back then,

she was fairly insecure and very shy and timid, especially about sharing her emotions and what was on

her mind in just about every aspect of her life – not just in our relationship and emotions that way but also

just very inhibited. That was retarding our relationship with one another. It was also inhibiting her ability

to just live. That was cute for a while but not for very long. So I said, Honey, I don’t understand why you

carry yourself the way you do. You are the most beautiful girl in the world. You act like you are not

worthy to be heard.

She said – Well, I am not all that pretty.

I said – Pretty? Who said anything about pretty? Pretty wrinkles and sags over the years. Beauty

blooms with age and you are the most beautiful girl in the world. I don’t think you believe that. So you

come here. Stand up. We faced each other and I looked into her eyes and said – You are the most beautiful

girl in the world.

She said – Thanks.

I said – No, no. You are the most beautiful girl in the world.

She said – Thanks.

I said – You are the most beautiful girl in the world. You are the most beautiful girl in the world.

You are the most beautiful girl in the world. You are the most beautiful girl in the world.

She goes – Okay, I’ve got it.

I said – I don’t think you do. So I hugged her and then whispered into her ear: You are the most

beautiful girl in the world. You are the most beautiful girl in the world.

I said: Say it back.

She said: Well, I’m not ready.

Okay, fine. I’ve got all night. You are the most beautiful girl in the world. You are the most …

I could just feel her finally relaxing and maybe even believing it. Then, finally she said:

MBG


I am the most beautiful girl in the world. I am the most beautiful girl in the world.

I said: You are. You absolutely are.

I said that and did that, not to flatter her. That wasn’t my motive. It was to change the way she thought, to

change what she believed about herself --- because you are what you believe. I wanted to change her

conduct. I didn’t just want to make her feel good, to get her through the day. I wanted to change the way

she acted, the way she carried herself, the way she walked into a room and expected certain things –

because you are a product of how you behave. I wanted to be that friend that would speak to her – not

what she wanted to hear -- but what she needed to hear and that was the truth.

I did not want her to waste her life. If she would continue being the shy, timid, bashful thing then

the world would never know who God meant her to be. She would be less than how she was designed. It

would be a sin against God and it would be a sin against the rest of us if she wasted her life.

To this day, when she signs love letters to me, she signs MBG [most beautiful girl] because she

understands that. She believes it and she acts it. She befriends those who give her that credit and she has

not wasted her life.

The reason I tell you that is the power of our series. This is our tenth week now and every single

one of us is going to need to hear these truths again and again and again. We can get shirts with the logos

designed on them like the one I am wearing. You can get bumper stickers. You can etch it into some

wood, this logo tsadick which means we are righteous – because we have to continually return to these

four truths, not just: What you believe; How you behave; Who you befriend; and What you do with your

life – but the truths that are found in our series. If this is your first week here, I am sorry. I am going to

just review very quickly.

The first truth is the hard truth. The truth is that God is holy. He is absolutely just and He is not

ashamed of that. If you read in the Old and New Testaments alike, if you are not selective in what you

read, if you just read the Bible and see this is a biography that says that God is holy and He has zero

tolerance towards anything that is not. That is the hard news and that leaves us cowering in fear.

The next thing we learned was some bad news, that His righteousness is a standard and that

righteousness is like a plumb line, straight up and down, and that is what He holds up against the souls of

men and women, of nations, and of worlds and says: Measure up to this. If you don’t, you cannot have a

relationship with Me. You can’t have intimacy with Me. You can’t have communion. We have nothing

together. And that leaves us feeling hopeless.

Review


Then we learned the next bit of news and that good news was that Jesus Christ, God in skin, came

and exchanged His righteousness (that is tsadick-ness, that perfect plumb line-ness of status), He

exchanged what He had for our sin, our wrongdoings, our inadequacies. That great exchange leaves us

baffled and confused. That was the good news.

Then there is the crazy news which is hard to believe and it takes a while. The crazy news is that

when we look at ourselves, all we see is the red sin. But when God sees us, all He sees is the perfectly

perfect image of His Son in perfect human form and that is how He will score us. The crazy news leaves

us joy-filled.

We live on this energy of love and appreciation for what God has done. So we keep repeating

these truths in our minds and reading these passages to brain wash ourselves so that we know how we

stand with God and how we got to that standing. If sometimes the belief is not able to adequately cause

our conduct to change, [how we behave] we just change the way we act because sometimes our bodies

can lead our minds. We are enslaved to righteousness, it says, and in that slavery, our brains become

aligned with who we are, in fact what is true – righteous before God because of what Jesus did.

We have to be very careful and selective of who we befriend because we want people who are

speaking truths into our lives – sometimes not what we want to hear but what we need to hear.

Most of all, we don’t want to waste our lives. We cannot waste our lives. In light of all these

truths, these hard truths and scary truths, and good news, and crazy news, why would you settle for

anything but living a life to honor Jesus Christ? Why wouldn’t you just go full out and live your life into

exhaustion, not so that He would love you but because of all that He has done for you? What happens

with us is that we are easily distracted by the things of the world.

We start thinking that a person’s value is not based on what God has declared but rather an

accumulation of things. We begin to believe that our status among friends, or respectability in the

community, or an accumulation of stuff is how we keep score. Then because that is how we keep score.

Instead of the truths we have studied together, we become worried about those things: of attaining those

things, or once attained, losing those things. Jesus says that He is jealous for our lives, to be used well.

Jesus says – don’t waste your life. You are not the sum of the things you possess.

Don’t Waste Your Life!


In Luke 12, He gives us a parable, a little story, to help us remember a fable that goes along with

the lesson. The lesson is – Do not waste your life. He doesn’t want us to waste our life so He tells us

something that ought to sink in. He told this parable because everybody was so worried about this stuff

that doesn’t matter.

Luke 12:16 And He told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a

good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

So, here is a very wealthy man. Immediately, the people who are listening to this story are attracted to

him. It is a good thing. He is a wealthy guy; he works hard; he is a farmer which means he is not lazy. Old

Testament heroes, most of them, are very wealthy: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Joseph was the second in

command of the largest kingdom of the time. Solomon and David were kings and ruled in palaces. We are

much indebted to Joseph of Arimathea who gave Jesus our Savior his tomb, lent it to Him. He didn’t need

it for long but Joseph of Arimathea didn’t know that. He was a wealthy man and he gave his wealth for

good things.

Wealth is not the problem. The problem is when people are consumed with getting more. How do

you know if you are consumed with getting more? Because that is what you worry about. Jesus is saying

– Don’t waste your life worrying about those things.

It is like the fly and the flypaper, one writer writes. The fly lands on the flypaper and says: My

flypaper. The flypaper says: My fly. Then the fly is dead but the fly is rich – look at his flypaper. But he is

dead.

We can find ourselves saying – My land, my stuff, my reputation. You are dead.

In the parable, the rich man says, What do I do with all the grain? This is what I’ll do.

Luke 12:18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger

ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have

plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

But God says in contrast to a man wasting his life,

:20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.

Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

:21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich

toward God.”

Parable: Luke 12


How do you waste your life? You store up things for yourself but are not rich towards God. You focus on

the here and now.

Can you imagine this man’s eulogy? We could probably fill this auditorium – he would be that

famous. For the sake of time, we would say – You can say one thing about this man. He has no name.

People would stand, go to the pulpit and lean in and say – Industrious. Someone else would say – He was

shrewd. -- He was a pioneer. -- He was wealthy.

Then from the very back, someone in nothing but black with a hood, but with a radiant face comes

up. You almost want to worship him. He is the angel of God himself. He leans into the microphone and

says: Fool. The man was a fool.

Think about it. He planned out every contingency of what might be but never spent time thinking

and planning for the only thing that was absolutely certain. He played out every possible scenario. – What

if I get more crops? Well, I’ll tear these barns down and build bigger ones.-- But he never planned for

the absolute inevitable, that he was going to die. He never thought about the fact that he was going to die.

He was a fool. It doesn’t sound like very nice vocabulary here. But Jesus used this word because he was

rich here but lived for eternity with the consequences.

So, the one thing we can all be certain about ourselves is that we will die. Some of you might live

another two decades or four. Some of you won’t live another two weeks. But none of us really know,

right? The overwhelming issue here is – Are you planning for that day? Or, are you foolish? Are you rich

in things that are temporal but poor in things that are eternal? If you are, then you are a fool.

[Holding up a long white rope, with a small section taped with yellow tape – and within that section of

yellow tape, there is a tiny green portion of tape.]

Here is another way of looking at it. Look at this rope. Let’s say the rope represents human

history. It won’t be to scale. That is all of human history. The yellow part here is your little life – very

short in light of how long, 10,000 years, people have lived. But the point is that we save all of our lives so

that we can live the last part here, the green part. We live the yellow life and we save for the green part so

that we can say in that green part, that part which is our retirement -- We have many things for a long

period of time. We have many things for a long period of time.

Jesus is saying: What is a long time? Fool, what about this, [the rest of the rope beyond the

representation of one life] What about forever and ever and millions and millions of years that this just

keeps going. This part of your life, the yellow part, that has consequences for the rest of your existence,

Rope Illustration


for eternity, forever. Jesus is saying: If you spend this right [the yellow part], then what you live in this

short period of time, out on the edge, you live with that crown forever. Be rich that way. Do not waste

your life, he says.

Like Paul the Apostle who wrote so many of the letters to the churches, at the end of his race, he

realizes he will probably be killed because of his faith in Christ. He writes his disciple Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

I have done well. Paul says, I have invested into the next life where no one can steal it and rust can’t take

over and moths can’t eat it and I will have my eternal rewards eternally. He is sprinting to the end.

You have seen sprinters, right? Every muscle in their body is being utilized to make the absolute

most of crossing that threshold. No one is running to get last; they are running to get first. They are

running to do their personal best and when they cross that line, they are rewarded. That is what Jesus says.

Don’t spend all of your time worrying about all these other things that won’t matter after your funeral.

What does it look like -- not to waste your life? What does it look like to live a life that is utilizing

every asset for God’s glory? It looks like this. The end of this parable ends with this punch line.

Luke 12: 31 But seek first His kingdom, and all these other things will be added to you.

God knows you need some kind of transportation. God knows you need a roof over your head. He knows

you need some clothes. So don’t get caught up spinning in all of that. But if you seek first the kingdom of

God, you won’t waste your life worrying about these other things.

You will start seeing that your possessions are a way of showing that Jesus Christ is first. You use

them to prove to angels or to neighbors that Jesus is first in your life. You use your cash to prove to the

world and to angels and to God himself that cash is just something you use here because it won’t be used

later. You use the stuff now as investment into eternity where you will live with those consequences.

If you want to be worried about something, worry about God’s kingdom. Haddon Robinson put it

this way. You think of your life as a wheel with spokes around the center point, the hub, which gives

power to everything else, which stabilizes your life and every aspect in your life. He said, the hub of your

life needs to be eternal. God’s kingdom and human beings, that is what matters. He says to guard your

hub.

Proverbs says, guard your heart. It is the well spring of life. Your heart is eternal. Guard that.

Don’t waste your life on destroying that and making it calloused. Guard that hub. Don’t just walk by

How Not to Waste Your Life


human beings as though they are not everlasting, eternal things, on your way to acquire more stuff that is

so temporal. Stop and look. Stop and see what is really valuable in the eyes of God and don’t waste your

life being so worried about other things.

Like it says in the passage, don’t treasure the things that are on earth. Treasure the things that are

in heaven.

We have this little gal who crossed our lives a number of years ago. Melinda and I have this big

photo collage at our house, a big picture of all Cassidy’s, all the stuff we have done over the years. [Matt

is showing slides of these photos.] The next one shows pictures of us as little kids: Melinda as a child,

Ryan as a child. Some little trips we have been on together as a family and family gatherings. Here is one

where we went to the Grand Canyon.

This is very interesting. If you look at the big collage, and this covers almost a whole wall, every

one on there is part of our family, except for one, in the middle, at the bottom, this little girl. I came in on

that one day and said: Honey, who is this? She said: You remember that little girl from California. I said:

Oh my goodness. What is she doing up here? She said: I don’t know. I just wanted to put her up here.

That is the Cassidy board.

This little girl was maybe 6 or 7 years old. Melinda was working with the kindergarten or first

grade class when we were in that church together. This little girl was so shy. She was really cute. But in

five months, she didn’t say five words; I am not exaggerating. This is a true story. Every Sunday, Melinda

would come in and say hi to her and get down on her knees and give her a hug and tell her things that

maybe she didn’t want to hear but she needed to – about how much Jesus loved her and what He had done

for her -- trying to brighten up her day each time. The girl wouldn’t respond much. She would smile and

blush but would never exchange any kind of appreciation for that.

Well, it was announced that we were leaving and we weren’t ever coming back. We were moving

back to Texas. They told everyone that at the church. We were leaving the middle of the next morning.

That night, this girl’s mother called us and said, You have got to come to our house. My daughter is crying

and cannot be consoled until you get up here. She didn’t realize you were leaving this week. So we drove

up the hill and got out. The girl came out from hiding from behind the couch and she brought Melinda this

shoe box that she had decorated inside and out. Then she lifted the lid of the shoe box and gave her a

couple of little crafts she had made, and a couple of drawings that you could tell she had spent a

considerable amount of time. Then she gave her this one sheet of paper that was an assignment from

Melinda’s Little Friend


Sunday School class. She had to list the people who were very important in her life because those people

showed her how much God loved her. Then she gave her this picture [photo of herself] twenty-five years

ago.

That picture ended up on our bulletin board because it constantly reminds us that we can have a

tremendous impact on people’s lives and never know it – if we just stop and look at them as human

beings, as souls in skin instead of somebody to step over or to bump so we can get first in line.

We need to be very careful not to waste our lives by taking eternal things for granted and temporal

things as valuable. Jesus says this in

Matthew 25:31-33 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him,

He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him,

and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from

the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

:34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My

Father; take your inheritance [for eternity], the Kingdom prepared for you since the

creation of the world.

He says, you have invested so well in this part of your life. The King says this. He says, come and get

your inheritance that you can have and enjoy, forever, millions and millions of years. It is yours. And the

people don’t even know what He is talking about.

:35 ‘For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me

something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you

clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’

:37-39 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed

You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and

invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see You sick or in prison

and go to visit You?’

:40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these

brothers of mine, you did for Me.’

You saw it. You got it. You weren’t consumed with chasing temporal things. You were not the fool who

said, “And then I will have many things for a long time.” You said, “These are eternal things in front of

me and I will not pass them by.”

Invest in Eternal Things – Matthew 25


Melinda did not tell that little girl those things that she needed to hear to flatter her. She wanted to

change what she believed because we are what we believe. She didn’t hug this girl, even though the girl

didn’t like being hugged so much; she did but she didn’t. She wanted to change the way she behaved

because sometimes behavior leads the way we believe. Melinda wanted her to behave in a way that she

was loved. Melinda wanted to be that friend that would say those things that were true about God’s

holiness, His justice, His sacrifice, and His perspective on those who put faith in Him. Melinda did not

want that little girl on our bulletin board with our family photo to waste her life, thinking she was

anything but precious in the eyes of God and those who call God their King.

Jesus does not want you to waste your life. In light of all that He has done and all who He is, He

would not want you to waste your life.

Francis Chan wrote a wonderful book called Crazy Love. The college group read it together last

summer. There is a chapter in it called “Profiles of the Obsessed”. He uses the word obsessed in the sense

of being obsessed by the love of God. He writes descriptive terms of what obsession looks like. I will

attach that chapter to the manuscript on our web site [www.grace360.org] this week. But instead of using

the word obsessed, I will use this phrase – people who don’t want to waste their life. These are just a few

samples.

A person who doesn’t want to waste his life THINKS ABOUT HEAVEN FREQUENTLY.

Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them.

A person who does not want to waste his life is characterized by being COMMITTED, SETTLED,

PASSIONATE LOVE FOR GOD, above and before every other thing and every other being.

A person who does not want to waste his life GIVES FREELY AND OPENLY, without censure.

He loves those who hate him and who can never love him back.

A person who does not want to waste his life knows that the SIN OF PRIDE IS ALWAYS A

BATTLE. He knows that you can never be humble enough, and so he seeks to make himself less known

and Christ more known (Matthew 5:16).

A person who does not want to waste his life DOES NOT CONSIDER SERVICE A BURDEN.

He takes joy in loving God by loving His people (Matthew 13:44; John 15:8).

A person who does not want to waste his life is known as a GIVER, NOT A TAKER.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan


A person who does not want to waste his life is RAW WITH GOD. He does not attempt to mask

the ugliness of his sins or his failures. He does not put up a fake front for God. God is his safe place,

where he can be at peace.

A person who does not want to waste his life has an INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP with Him. He

is nourished by God’s Word throughout the day because he knows that forty minutes on Sunday is not

enough to sustain him for a whole week.

A person who does not want to waste his life with Jesus is more CONCERNED WITH HIS OR

HER CHARACTER THAN COMFORT. He knows that true joy does not depend on circumstances or

environment. It is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God (James

1:2-4).

You and I are followers of the King and that King conquered death and He set us free from the

power of sin. That King who died and rose again and conquered the power of sin in our life, He knighted

us tsadik, righteous. When He sees us, that is what He sees. He says this: You will be rewarded forever

for the life you live in this short time as His knight. Jesus says – Do not waste that life.

Dear heavenly Father,

So many of us feel the rapids running beneath us and our lives spilling over the falls. We have

wasted so many years pursuing more instead of eternity. I pray as Paul did that whatever I have, that I

would count as loss for the sake of Christ. I count everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of

knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord. For Jesus’ sake, all that I have suffered and all that I have lost is

rubbish because I count Christ a gain.

God, I ask that You would forever put in our minds the importance of these very short, few years

that we have, that we would see eternity in the souls, in the eyes of the people we encounter, that we

might love You and love them deeply.

Let us hear your voice throughout the day and let us have your courage to do Your will.

And all God’s people prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen


Crazy Love – Francis Chan

Chapter 8: Profile of the Obsessed Obsessed: To have the mind excessively preoccupied with a single emotion or topic. 14

The idea of holding back certainly didn't come from Scripture. The Bible teaches us to be consumed with

Christ and to faithfully live out His words. The Holy Spirit stirs in us a joy and peace when we are fixated

on Jesus, living by faith, and focused on the life to come.

Lovers I think sometimes we assume that if we are nice, people will know that we are Christians and want to

know more about Jesus. But it really doesn't work that way. I know a lot of people who don't know Christ

and are really nice people -- nicer and more fun to be with, in fact, than a lot of Christians I know.

There has to be more to our faith than friendliness, politeness, and even kindness. Jesus teaches in

Luke's gospel:

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even "sinners" love those who

love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?

Even "sinners" do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what

credit is that to you? Even "sinners" lend to "sinners," expecting to be repaid in full. But

love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything

back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is

kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

-Luke 6:32-36

True faith is loving a person after he has hurt you. True love makes you stand out.

In October 2006, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a man stormed an Amish school and killed several

girls. The day after the shootings, many Amish people visited the shooter's family to say they had

forgiven him. That sort of forgiveness is incomprehensible to the world; because of it, people have even

accused the families of being bad parents, of not dealing properly with their anger, of living in denial.

It is just this sort of love that is crazy to the world: true love, a kind found nowhere but through

Christ.

We are commanded to love our enemies and do good to them. Who are your enemies? Or, in terms

we connect with better, who are the people you avoid or who avoid you? Who are the people who have


hurt you or hurt your friends or hurt your kids? Are you willing to do good to those people? To reach out

to them?

Oftentimes, my first response when someone does something to me -- or worse, to my wife or to

one of my kids -- is retaliation. I don't want to bless those who hurt me or people I love dearly. I wouldn't

want to forgive someone who walked into my daughter's school and shot her and her friends.

But that is exactly what Christ asks us to do. He commands that we give without expecting

anything in return.

Later in Luke, Jesus says,

When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives,

or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But

when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be

blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the

righteous. -Luke 14:12-14

Have you ever actually done anything like that? Do you give to those who cannot repay you? To

those who would do you harm, if they could? To those who have already done you harm? This is Christ's

love. He gave us something for which we can never repay Him, and then He asks us to keep giving like

He gives.

Frederick Buechner writes in The Magnificent Defeat,

The love for equals is a human thing -- of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love

what is loving and lovely. The world smiles. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful

thing -- the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the

unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world. The love for the more

fortunate is a rare thing -- to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy

with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white

man. The world is always bewildered by its saints. And then there is the love for the enemy

-- love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The

tortured's love for the torturer. This is God's love. It conquers the world.

People who are obsessed with Jesus give freely and openly, without censure. Obsessed

people love those who hate them and who can never love them back.


Risk Takers Haven't we all prayed the following prayer? Lord, we pray for safety as we travel. We ask that no one gets

hurt on this trip. Please keep everyone safe until we return, and bring us back safely. In Jesus' name we

pray, amen. The exact wording may vary a bit, but that is the standard prayer we recite before leaving on

mission trips, retreats, vacations, and business trips.

We are consumed by safety. Obsessed with it, actually. Now, I'm not saying it is wrong to pray for

God's protection, but I am questioning how we've made safety our highest priority. We've elevated safety

to the neglect of whatever God's best is, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would

accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world.

Would you be willing to pray this prayer? God, bring me closer to You during this trip, whatever

it takes.. . .

People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort

above all else. Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their

own lives being shielded from pain or distress.

Friends of All Awhile back I had a free evening, so I decided to go to the store and buy some items to give away to those

who needed them more than I do. It was a good idea, something I want my life to be characterized by

more and more.

But it was embarrassing.

I realized that everyone I knew had enough, that I didn't know many people who were truly in

need, and that I needed to change that. I needed to go and intentionally meet people who don't live like I

do or think like I do, people who could never repay me. For their sake, but for my own as well.

First Timothy reaffirms that we are not to be controlled by money or to pursue it:

Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we

can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and

harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root

of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and

pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue


righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the

faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good

confession in the presence of many witnesses. -1Timothy 6:6-13

People who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or

another. Obsessed people believe that Jesus talked about money and the poor so often

because it was really important to Him (1 John 2:4-6; Matt. 16:24-26).

Crazy Ones Sometimes I feel like when I make decisions that are remotely biblical, people who call

themselves Christians are the first to criticize and say I'm crazy, that I'm taking the Bible too literally, or

that I'm not thinking about my family's well-being.

For example, when I returned from my first trip to Africa, I felt very strongly that we were to sell

our house and move into something smaller, in order to give more away. The feedback I got was along the

lines of "It's not fair to your kids," "It's not a prudent financial choice," and "You are doing it just for

show." I do not remember a single person who encouraged me to explore it or supported the decision at

the time.

We ended up moving into a house half the size of our previous home, and we haven't regretted it.

My response to the cynics, in the context of eternity, was, am I the crazy one for selling my house? Or are

you for not giving more, serving more, being with your Creator more?

If one person "wastes" away his day by spending, hours connecting with God, and the other person

believes he is too busy or has better things to do than worship the Creator and Sustainer, who is the crazy

one? If one person invests her or his resources in the poor -- which, according to Matthew 25, is giving to

Jesus Himself -- and the other extravagantly remodels a temporary dwelling that will not last beyond his

few years left on this earth, who is the crazy one?

When people gladly sacrifice their time or comfort or home, it is obvious that they trust in the

promises of God. Why is it that the story of someone who has actually done what Jesus commands

resonates deeply with us, but we then assume we could never do anything so radical or intense? Or why

do we call it radical when, to Jesus, it is simply the way it is? The way it should be?

Obsessed people are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or

fulfilling the status quo. A person who is obsessed with Jesus will do things that don't always

make sense in terms of success or wealth on this earth. As Martin Luther put it, "There are two


days on my calendar: this day and that day" ( Luke 14:25 -35; Matt. 7:13 - 23 ; 8:18-22; Rev.

3:1-6).

The Humble The church in America loves to turn saints into celebrities, to make known the stories of humble people

who have faithfully served Christ in some way. And there is much good that comes of that. In fact, in the

next chapter we'll look closely at some examples.

But there can be a tragic consequence to it: Too many of these people fall for the praise and start

to believe that they really are something special.

I spoke at a summer camp several years ago. Afterward, a number of students told me I was their

"favorite speaker." It felt good to hear them talk about how funny and convicting my messages were. I

loved it. I got back to my room and thanked God for helping me speak so well.

About three minutes into my prayer, I stopped. It hit me that the students were talking about me,

not God. I was standing before a holy God and robbing Him of the glory that was rightfully His.

That's a terrifying position to find yourself in. God says, "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will

not give my glory to another or my praise to idols" (Isa. 42:8). I realized immediately that any attention I

received belonged to God.

It's pride, plain and simple, that keeps me from giving God all the glory and keeping some of it for

myself. It is a battle we all fight, in some form or another, some of us daily or even hourly.

One of the ways I know to fight against pride is through focused prayer. What I mean is that

before you say one word to God, take a minute and imagine what it would be like to stand before His

throne as you pray. Remember the visions of John, in Revelation, and Isaiah; remember the many

accounts of people coming into God's presence and how it always caused the people to fall on their faces

in terror. And then start to pray.

A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the sin of pride is always a battle. Obsessed

people know that you can never be "humble enough," and so they seek to make themselves

less known and Christ more known (Matt. 5:16).

Servers


As I shared in previous chapters, I used to be driven by my fear of God. I also used to work hard to prove

that I was committed to God. Now I have tremendous fear and awe of God, but that doesn't motivate me.

Now I work hard to serve God, but it isn't to prove my devotion.

Now I think I'm actually in love. Maybe that sounds corny to you, but I can't think of a more

appropriate way to say it.

If a guy were dating my daughter but didn't want to spend the gas money to come pick her up or

refused to buy her dinner because it cost too much, I would question whether he were really in love with

her. In the same way, I question whether many American churchgoers are really in love with God because

they are so hesitant to do anything for Him.

People who are obsessed with Jesus do not consider service a burden. Obsessed people take

joy in loving God by loving His people (Matt. 13:44; John 15:8).

Givers Tears come to my eyes when I think about some of God's people I have had the privilege to meet in the

past few years. These are people with families, with dreams, people who are made in God's image as

much as you and I are. And these people are suffering.

Many of them are sick, some even dying, as they live out their lives in dwellings that we would

not consider good enough for our household pets. I am not exaggerating. Much of their daily hardship and

suffering could be relieved with access to food, clean water, clothing, adequate shelter, or basic medical

attention.

I believe that God wants His people, His church, to meet these needs. The Scriptures are filled

with commands and references about caring for the poor and for those who cannot help themselves. The

crazy part about God's heart is that He doesn't just ask us to give; He desires that we love those in need as

much as we love ourselves. That is the core of the second greatest command, to "love your neighbor as

yourself" (Matt. 22:39).

He is asking you to love as you would want to be loved if it were your child who was blind from

drinking contaminated water; to love the way you would want to be loved if you were the homeless

woman sitting outside the cafe; to love as though it were your family living in the shack slapped together

from cardboard and scrap metal.

Non-churchgoers tend to see Christians as takers rather than givers. When Christians sacrifice and

give wildly to the poor, that is truly a light that glimmers. The Bible teaches that the church is to be that


light, that sign of hope, in an increasingly dark and hopeless world. Matthew 5:16 says, "Let your light

shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

People who are obsessed with God are known as givers, not takers.

Obsessed people genuinely think that others matter as much as they do, and they are

particularly aware of those who are poor around the world (James 2:14-26).

Sojourners Most Americans, and even more so those of us in Southern California, think about life on earth way too

much. Much of our time, energy, and money are channeled toward that which is temporary. Paul writes,

For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as

enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and

their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in

heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the

power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly

bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. -Philippians 3:18-21

As I said before, my wife's grandma Clara offered a real-life example of a person consumed with Jesus. I

once attended a play with my wife and some of her relatives, including Grandma Clara. During

intermission, I leaned over and asked what she thought of the play. She said, "Oh honey, I really don't

want to be here right now." When I asked why, she replied, "I just don't know if this is where I want to be

when Christ returns. I'd rather be helping someone or on my knees praying. I don't want Him to return and

find me sitting in a theater."

I was shocked by her answer. Yes, we are called to "keep watch" (Matt. 24:42), but it's strange to

see someone who takes that command, and so many others, seriously. In fact, it's more than strange -- it's

convicting.

A person who is obsessed thinks about heaven frequently. Obsessed people orient their lives

around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them.

The Engrossed


Jesus didn't just pull the greatest command out of nowhere. He hearkened all the way back to the days of

Moses, when God says to His people,

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all

your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I

give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them

when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you

get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them

on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. -Deuteronomy 6:4-9

In Moses' time, the heart was understood to be the seat of a person's emotions, the very center of his

being, the place where decisions are made. The soul was considered the basis for a person's traits and

qualities, or his personality. Strength refers to physical, mental, and spiritual strength.

So within this command to love God with "all your heart and with all your soul and with all your

strength," every fiber of humanity is addressed. Our goal as people who follow Christ should be no less

than becoming people who are madly in love with God.

A person who is obsessed is characterized by committed, settled, passionate love for God,

above and before every other thing and every other being.

Unguarded Ones Before my wife and I got married I knew that I had to tell her everything about me, all the ways I'd

messed up, all the things I'd done. She had to know what she was getting before she agreed to marry me.

That conversation was not easy, but at the end of it, we still chose to be with each other, to commit our

lives to one another.

I find myself acting differently with God. Often, when I pray, I will phrase my sentences in a way

that makes me sound better. I will try to soften my sins, or touch up my true feelings before laying them

before God. How foolish it is for me to be completely honest with my wife about my shortcomings, but

try to fool God!

God wants us to be open with Him. He definitely doesn't want us to "season our wretchedness" as

we would raw meat. He knows what we are, that we are disgusting, that all we are doing is trying to make

ourselves feel better.


God desires true intimacy with each of us, and that comes only when we trust Him enough to be

fully transparent and vulnerable.

People who are obsessed are raw with God; they do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their

sins or their failures. Obsessed people don't put it on for God; He is their safe place, where they

can be at peace.

The Rooted The average Christian in the United States spends ten minutes per day with God; meanwhile, the average

American spends over four hours a day watching television.I5

Perhaps TV is not your thing -- maybe you don't even own one. But how about your time and your

resources? How much of your money is spent on yourself, and how much is directed toward God's

kingdom? How much of your time is dedicated to pursuing your life and your goals, and how much is

focused on God's work and purposes?

God doesn't want religious duty. He doesn't want a distracted, halfhearted "Fine, I'll read a chapter.

.. now are You happy?" attitude. God wants His Word to be a delight to us, so much so that we meditate

on it day and night.

In Psalm 1, He promises that those who do so are "like a tree planted by streams of water, which

yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers" (v. 3).

People who are obsessed with God have an intimate relationship with Him. They are nourished

by God's Word throughout the day because they know that forty minutes on Sunday is not

enough to sustain them for a whole week, especially when they will encounter so many

distractions and alternative messages.

The Dedicated Have you been in really good physical shape at some point in your life? If you aren't at that same level of

fitness today, you probably know that it didn't "just happen"; you didn't lose your six-pack or your ability

to run eight miles overnight. You stopped running regularly, or you quit lifting weights three times a

week, or you started adding a couple of extra scoops of ice cream to your bowl. There are reasons that we

are where we are and who we are, and they aren't random.


It is the same way with joy in our lives. We tend to think of joy as something that ebbs and flows

depending on life's circumstances. But we don't just lose joy, as though one day we have it and the next

it's gone, oh darn. Joy is something that we have to choose and then work for. Like the ability to run for

an hour, it doesn't come automatically. It needs cultivation.

When life gets painful or doesn't go as we hoped, it's okay if a little of our joy seeps away. The

Bible teaches that true joy is formed in the midst of the difficult seasons of life.

A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort.

Obsessed people know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift

that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God (James 1:2-4).

Sacrificers We cannot start believing that we are indispensable to God. According to the psalmist,

I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the

forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and

the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is

mine, and all that is in it.... Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most

High. Psalm 50:9-12, 14

There is no way we can contribute or add to God. He has everything and is complete. When we are in

God's presence, all we can do is praise Him. Romans 11:35-36 says, '''Who has ever given to God, that

God should repay him?' For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory

forever! Amen."

A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the best thing he can do is be faithful to his

Savior in every aspect of his life, continually saying "Thank You!" to God. An obsessed person

knows there can never be intimacy if he is always trying to pay God back or work hard enough

to be worthy. He revels in his role as child and friend of God.

While these descriptions combined don't necessarily answer the question of what it looks like to be

wholly surrendered to God, they represent important pieces of the puzzle. Hopefully you are beginning to

imagine and pray about what this looks like in your own life.


Notes

14. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. (New York: Houghton Mifflin

Company, 2004), s.v. “obsessed.”

do with life.10

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